I've read that park rangers sometimes wear pantyhose as an underlayer to keep ticks from biting their legs. Well that got me wondering if they would work for mosquitoes and biting flies too. If so, I was thinking you could cut off the leg sections and wear them on your arms as a makeshift mosquito shirt. Do you think it would work or is the material not tightly woven enough?

When you read that park rangers wear pantyhose under layers to stop ticks (protection against Lymes Disease) did it indicate what kind of material the pantyhose were made from. Were they made from Nylon or Silk. This disease can have very serious medical consequences for those who then develop chronic Lymes disease.

Because ticks are non flying insects unlike mosquitoes and midges I think that the park rangers were using the pantyhose layer as a fabric barrier against the ticks to protect the lower body. In areas where there might be ticks a similar form of protection would be to wear full length trousers made from a very tight weave cotton called Ventile and then use a very old fashioned ankle protection called puttees. Ankle Gaiters can also be used but would probably be not as effective.

I don't think that wearing pantyhose cut offs on the arms would give similar protection against mosquitoes and other flying biting insects. Again I would use a Ventile shirt with full length arms, headnet etc and the most appropriate insect repellent. I find the natural tea tree oil or citronella based repellents work quite well rather than Deet based repellents, which give you brain damage.

I don't know about ticks and other bugs but we used to wear pantyhose on my buoy tender (deck crew) in order to stay warm during the winter.

Panty hose: $1.50
The look on my wife's face when I asked her for some: PRICELESS

What size did you ask her to buy LOL

Hmm, when thinking about this, do you reckon some of the park rangers could be wearing stockings and suspenders as well. They would probaly be just as effective and allow the call of nature to be made a lot easier. Maybe this explains the Canadian Lumberjack song

I wasn't about to get technical

Pantyhose are nylon. The support kind are usually thicker, if that makes a difference to anyone.

They're actually quite useful for a lot of things:
Another layer to trap body heat
Filtering water
Tying things
Bank robbery disguises
Straining paint, etc
Use w/ wire coathangers to make kids butterfly wings
Cover clothes dryer vents to catch debris

Talk about multipurpose!

Sue

I've heard of several people in swampy areas (canoeists, soldiers, etc) wearing pantyhose as a base layer to help keep leeches off. Would probably help for ticks, I would guess.

Speaking of which, a friend of mine found two on him, not one day after reading that thread about the ticks here on this forum. They are indeed thick this year!

J

Ticks, maybe. Mosquitoes? I highly doubt it!!

I went on a trip up to the Sierra Nevadas about a decade ago (the Rae Lakes Loops). The mosquitoes there were biting through long sleeve flannel shirts. Apparently deet wasn't a big deterrent either.

Do they have to shave thier legs to make that work? I've got wookie legs and the thought of having to shave them boggles my mind.